As a faculty member in Surgery at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University, I am fully committed to a research career, integrating clinical with basic laboratory investigation, studying impairments of cutaneous wound healing within the diabetic milieu. In this application, examination of the impact of diabetes upon burn injury is proposed. The William Randolph Hearst Burn Center at the New York Presbyterian Hospital offers a state of the art venue for conducting the prospective study. The Wound Healing Laboratory in Surgery provides the requisite resources for fulfilling the basic science component of this project. I previously trained as a laboratory research fellow under Dr Lisa Staiano-Coico's direction, and am presently training in the master's program for Clinical Epidemiology &Health Services research at the Graduate School of Medical Sciences - Cornell University under Dr Mary Charlson's mentorship. Geared towards the development of the clinical researcher, the master's curriculum sets the foundation in the acquisition of skills and applied training in clinical and analytical research methods by exposure to an outstanding, highly accomplished and diverse group of faculty. The career development plan outlined herein builds upon the initial structure established by the master's program providing ongoing oversight, advanced coursework and opportunity for participation in "think tank" seminars and research methodology conferences throughout the duration of this 5 year project proposal. By achieving this project's principal and secondary objectives, I will address the need to identify the most important predictors of clinical outcome, and especially potentially modifiable factors, that would create a basis of intervention to improve care in the diabetic burn-injured population. My long term objective is to develop a treatment paradigm appropriate for the diabetic, based upon the individual's "wound biology profile"- a composite of clinical, biochemical and physiologic information on the diabetic and his/her acute injury. The factors which constitute this profile would thus become future targets for therapeutic intervention.